''High Tor'' is a soundtrack album featuring Bing Crosby, Julie Andrews and Everett Sloane. It was primarily taken from the soundtrack of the ''

Ford Star Jubilee ''Ford Star Jubilee'' is an American anthology series that originally aired monthly on Saturday nights on CBS at 9:00 P.M., E.S.T. from the fall of 1955 to the fall of 1956 (With a summer hiatus). The series was approximately 90 minutes long, broa ...

'' TV film aired on March 10, 1956 by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. A musical adaptation of

Maxwell Anderson James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Background Anderson was born on December 15, 1888, in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to ...

’s play of the same name, the soundtrack album was released in 1956 by Decca Records, (catalogue number, DL 8272) and the album was later issued on CD by Stage Door Records in 2017 (catalogue No. STAGE 2420). Julie Andrews' songs from the film were included on the Sepia Records CD "Once Upon a Time" (Sepia 1103) released in 2007.

Content and reception

Bing Crosby linked dialogue and songs from the soundtrack and recorded "When You’re in Love" and "John Barleycorn" separately for inclusion in the album. "When You’re in Love" had been essayed by Julie Andrews and Everett Sloane in the film and it was fitting that Crosby should add his own version. "John Barleycorn" had been sung by Crosby in the film but it was decided to make a longer rendering as a finale. The songs used in the soundtrack were recorded on October 31 and early in November 1955. Joseph J. Lilley & his Orchestra provided the musical backing for the album. All the songs were written by

Arthur Schwartz Arthur Schwartz (November 25, 1900 – September 3, 1984) was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz. Biography Early life Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on Nov ...

(music) and Maxwell Anderson (lyrics). The film itself was not very well received, see also

High Tor (play) ''High Tor'' is a 1936 play by Maxwell Anderson. It received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play of the 1936–37 season. Twenty years after the original production, Anderson adapted it into a television musical with Arthur Sch ...

, but the album had a better reception with

Billboard magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...

saying, “High Tor” is an excellent package of Crosbiana, and if the show is as big a click as expected, the LP should enjoy brisk sales.”

Track listing

References

1956 soundtrack albums Bing Crosby soundtracks Decca Records soundtracks {{Bing Crosby